ward reservations

It is not uncommon that money is doled out in thousands or even lakhs during an election. The BBMP council elections are no different. Just as voters are wooed by candidates, the media aren't spared either. Citizen Matters experienced this first-hand during the last few days with candidates from three mainstream political parties offering money to be written about.At the time of interviewing a candidate, one of the first questions you are asked as a reporter is, "How much do you charge?" or "Do we have to pay for this interview?" When one replies in the negative, it would be…

This coming BBMP council election is seeing over 700 independent candidates in the fray. While many are contesting as independents after being denied a party ticket, there are others from low income groups and resident welfare associations, fed up with mainstream political parties, and therefore deciding to take it upon themselves to bring about some much-needed change. B Vedi is one such person. This 36-year-old has decided to contest in these elections upon the insistence of his supporters and ardent followers in the Dr B R Ambedkar Vegetable Loaders Association, based in KR Market and the residents of Sudhamanagar (Ward…

Running for the post of corporator from Koramangala are four women from reserved Backward Caste ‘A' category. So come March 28th, the residents of Kormangla ward will have to choose from P Bhagya (BJP), Kokila Radakrishna (Congress), K Malathi (Independent) and Dr Florence (JD(S)) to represent them in the Council.All the four women came together on one platform to interact with the residents of their ward on March 21st at National Games Village, Koramangala. The event was a debate organised by SmartVote and the Koramangala United Citizens Council (KUCC).  Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde was invited as a special guest. The…

It is possibly for the first time that citizens of Bengaluru are getting an opportunity to interact with candidates closely, ahead of the council elections. Through various such sessions being organised across the city, citizens can make an informed choice on March 28th, when they vote for their Councillor. From left to right – Manjunath Reddy (Congress), G N R Babu (Congress), K Devadas (Independent), Asgar Rafiuddin (Indian National League), Mohammad Sadiq (Independent) and H K Muthappa (BJP) at the debate organised by Citizen Matters and BTM RWAs. Pic: Chetan Boray Citizen Matters, along with residents welfare associations of BTM…

With BBMP elections round the corner, Citizen Matters along with resident's welfare associatons of JP Nagar (ward no: 177) and Sarkki (ward no: 178) organised a combined debate-cum-discussion for the candidates and residents of these areas on March 20th at Mahatma Play home grounds, JP Nagar.While Chandrashekar Raju (BJP), Teshi Venkatesh (JD(S)), and Prakash Kumar (Congress) addressed the concerns from residents of JP Nagar; candidates from Sarakki, namely, Swarnalatha (JD(S)) and Arun Kumar (Congress) discussed their plans on how to bring about change in their ward.  (From left) Teshi Venkatesh (JD(S) ), Prakash Kumar (Congress), Chandrashekar Raju (BJP), Arun Kumar…

"I am running to represent the people in all government offices and departments where they want their work done, but I am not going to make false promises about specific projects or schemes", says R Venkatesh, film director and JD(S) candidate for councillor at JP Nagar (Ward 177). Forty-two year old Venkatesh is a first-time corporator candidate and says he is inspired by H D Kumaraswamy's leadership.Venkatesh's attitude sums up a reformist and perhaps even non-ideological line, amongst the tickets mainline parties have given to some candidates. But with a whopping 198 seats up for the council, candidates of all…

The State Election Commission has announced the BBMP council elections schedule, with March 28th 2010 as the day of elections. The election code of conduct has been in force since March 7th and will go on till April 6th.The last date for filing nominations is March 15th while the nominations will be scrutinised on March 17th. The last date for withdrawing nomination papers is March 19th. After polling takes place on March 28th between 7 am and 5 pm, counting will be done a week later on April 5th. If necessary, repolling will take place on April 4th.March 7th 2010…

City elections may not happen on February 21st. On January 28th the Supreme Court directed the Karnataka state government to follow the ruling of the Division Bench of the High Court of Karnataka of December 8th. In that ruling, the High Court had asked the government to re-do the ward reservations list for Bengaluru in line with the 2001 census data for the Bangalore municipal area. With the ward reservation list quashed, the BBMP council elections are likely to not take place as scheduled. Pic: Vaishnavi Vittal The State Election Commission (SEC) today told Citizen Matters that they have written…